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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29520051">Looking Glass</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/liketolaugh/pseuds/liketolaugh'>liketolaugh</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity (Video Game), The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Autistic Link (Legend of Zelda), Character Study, Gen, Link (Legend of Zelda) Uses Sign Language, Link (Legend of Zelda) has Chronic Pain, Nonverbal Link (Legend of Zelda), Physical Disability, Spoilers for Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 16:47:34</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,379</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29520051</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/liketolaugh/pseuds/liketolaugh</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A quiet camping trip set between the rescue of the Champions and the invasion of Akkala Citadel, in an AU where the Zelda and Link of the future came to help as well. In many ways, Link thinks that he and his future self are exactly the same person. But the differences he notices are... worrying.</p><p>Or: a character study of the differences between pre- and post-Calamity Link.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Link/Mipha (Legend of Zelda)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>185</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Looking Glass</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Link knew there was something wrong the moment he saw his future self run.</p><p>It hadn’t been obvious when the other Link had walked. He held himself with the same battle-ready care that Link himself did, maintained a light-footed step that made very little noise, and watched everything with a protective hawk’s eye.</p><p>None of those things went away when he ran. But it exaggerated a few other things that Link wouldn’t have noticed otherwise.</p><p>Like the way he favored his left leg. The ginger way he turned his body. And the <em>slowness </em>of his pace – not sluggish, exactly, but nowhere near what Link knew he could manage even when pacing himself.</p><p>Link didn’t have much time to think about it when he first noticed – he had to get to Daruk, get to <em>Mipha </em>– but he didn’t forget.</p><p>He thought of it again when he and his future self started gathering wood to set up camp. The Link of the future had volunteered as soon as they decided to settle down, claiming the most experience, which was odd considering that Link <em>knew </em>he’d been camping perhaps three or four times in his life.</p><p>Further to which.</p><p>He clicked his tongue twice, and the other Link looked up expectantly, his face visibly drawn with exhaustion and pain. He was probably hiding an injury, Link deduced – he’d bring it up later, maybe to Mipha. She’d exhausted herself healing everyone earlier, but she could at least assess it to see how bad it was, if it needed a potion or just to be cleaned and left alone.</p><p><em>The others need a way to differentiate between us, </em>Link signed to the other, already looking him up and down. He was still wearing the heavy plate armor he’d donned before taking off, glowing with Sheikah markings like the slate and the guardians. <em>I was thinking ‘honey nut’ and ‘amber’.</em></p><p>Crystallized by time into something new, but the same color and the same gleam. The other Link hummed softly.</p><p><em>Two namesigns for the same name? </em>he asked. Link nodded. <em>I like it. But it won’t translate well to spoken language.</em></p><p>Link shrugged. <em>They’ll figure it out. I was thinking they could address us by namesign when they needed to differentiate and use our names the rest of the time. </em>He gave Amber Link a look up and down, watching him stack some of the chopped wood into an easy-to-bundle pile. <em>I don’t recognize your armor.</em></p><p><em>Robbie made it, </em>Amber replied, fingers flickering through the fingerspelling. <em>It provides a little extra defense against guardian beams. The circlet too.</em></p><p>Link exhaled, pleased. Yes, Robbie and Purah were going to be fantastic assets against the guardians. Alarming as they were at times, they were also brilliantly clever. <em>I appreciate you giving Princess Zelda one, then.</em></p><p>It had been the first thing the future Link had done when they settled down – more collapsing than anything, really, exhaustion and relief and adrenaline crash finally taking over. He’d opened up his Sheikah slate, and he’d handed out equipment – fifteen each of a strange arrow to Revali and Teba, a glowing blue battle axe to Daruk, a similar short sword to Urbosa, a circlet to the current time’s Zelda and a sturdy blue shield to Link.</p><p>He’d assured Link that their sword would respond to the guardians like she did to the Calamity itself. Link wasn’t as reassured by this as the other seemed to think, but he would make do.</p><p>The two Zeldas had already been in deep discussion by the time everyone had rendezvoused, supervised and guarded by a slightly bemused Impa. (She also looked a little flustered, if Link was honest with himself, though he’d never let the suspicion slip from his fingers.) His own Zelda had introduced herself as Princess Zelda, and the one from the future as Queen Zelda.</p><p>Link didn’t like to think about what that implied. And he especially tried not to worry about the fate of his own family, all the way back in Castle Town.</p><p><em>Of course, </em>Amber Link said tiredly, inclining his head slightly. <em>I wouldn’t let her stay vulnerable.</em></p><p>No, Link never really would, would he? He let a smile flicker across his face, but it disappeared as the other Link swung his axe at another tree and grunted, pain making his whole body jerk.</p><p><em>You didn’t need to hide your injury, </em>Honey Nut said after a moment, when Link had glanced over at him again. <em>Mipha knows how far she can go without overexerting herself.</em></p><p><em>It doesn’t matter, </em>Amber replied, a tired resignation making itself known in his gestures. <em>There’s nothing she can do for me anyway. Mipha would know that as soon as she saw, and it would only make her worry.</em></p><p>Link frowned, but Amber didn’t elaborate. He swung the axe again, clenching his jaw against what must be pretty considerable pain if it was showing on his face, and Link had to step in.</p><p>
  <em>I can do this. Gather the kindling and tinder, I don’t have much practice finding those anyway.</em>
</p><p>For a moment, Amber closed his eyes, and Link wondered what he’d said wrong. Then the other Link opened them again and nodded at him.</p><p><em>Thanks, </em>Amber Link signed shortly, and then split off somewhere to gather grasses and smaller wood branches.</p><p>Honey Nut took the abandoned axe and glanced back at the start of a camp – which was really, at this point, more of a circle of exhausted warriors who had collapsed where they stood. The two Zeldas were still deep in conversation, the little guardian egg nestled between them unnoticed and Impa sitting next to the princess. Riju and Yunobo were dozing off against each other, and Mipha in the grown Sidon’s lap, while he watched her like she might vanish at any moment.</p><p>Urbosa, Daruk, Revali, and Teba were all keeping watch, stiff and wary, Teba with one of the oddly-tipped arrows drawn and nocked. As Link watched, Revali seemed to notice this and take a cue from his descendant, his entire demeanor becoming even tenser than before.</p><p>But darkness was falling rapidly as the long summer’s day drew to a close, and Link turned back to his work. They’d want to have the fires going before full dark, and Link was starving.</p><p>It was almost twenty minutes later that they were finally done gathering materials, and Link couldn’t bear to watch Amber grind his teeth through more than a couple minutes of setting up the wood and kindling before he grunted to catch the other’s attention and signed, <em>Let me finish up. You go rest. You look beat.</em></p><p>Amber closed his eyes again, looking oddly defeated.</p><p><em>Sorry, </em>he signed after a moment, and then went to sit hard beside his Zelda, who immediately abandoned her conversation with her counterpart to turn toward him, eyes round with worry.</p><p>There were enough people that the two of them had agreed to set up three fires, keeping everyone warm until they were rested enough to start heading for Akkala Citadel. Link got started on that, keeping half an eye on the other Link. He was starting to have an odd suspicion about the injury he was hiding, but it was… difficult to make himself believe.</p><p>Link hadn’t met an opponent he couldn’t beat since he was twelve years old.</p><p>“We really weren’t ready for this, were we?” Queen Zelda fretted quietly, reaching out to start undoing the straps of Link’s armor like an attendant to the king. Link didn’t even surprised, just grateful, leaning a little closer to give her better access. “Goddess, you didn’t take <em>anything </em>before this, and… and you really ought to stretch, Link, perhaps if you loosen up a little-”</p><p><em>From the bottom of my heart, if I stretch right now, I’ll cry, </em>Link signed, and Zelda made a sympathetic but unsurprised sound, working through the buckles one by one.</p><p>“Herb remedies it is. I suppose you’re going to…” Link nodded, starting to take off his gauntlets. “You don’t <em>have </em>to. There’s a dozen warriors here right now, we can spare just one.” Link shook his head, and Queen Zelda sighed. “Oh, alright. Just wait until your armor’s off.”</p><p>Honey Nut could feel more than one set of eyes burning into him, Impa and Urbosa and his own Zelda, all people who knew exactly how unlike him it was to allow Zelda to attend him like that. He bent over the first fire and busied himself, using a knife and a shard of flint to set it alight, then leaning down to encourage it to grow.</p><p>“Wouldn’t a red potion be more apt?” Princess Zelda ventured eventually, looking almost more thrown by this than she had by her future self’s arrival. “We certainly have enough supply to spare, or Mipha might still be willing to help. There’s no reason to go untreated.”</p><p>“I’m afraid not,” Queen Zelda replied tiredly, without elaborating. The last of the cuirass finally came off and was deposited into Amber Link’s slate, and he got started on his own greaves while Zelda flicked through his slate.</p><p>It took Link a moment to recognize the herb she pulled from it, only just visible from where knelt – a little knot of three green stems, spotted where thorns had been shorn away, no flowers. But it was definitely stalweed.</p><p>Link had only seen it administered twice, both times to someone on their deathbed. Better than lavender for easing someone’s passing, taking away the pain and fear without costing them their awareness, and much more dangerous too.</p><p>“Chew, don’t swallow,” Queen Zelda reminded Amber before she gave him the little bundle, and he made a face at her and then popped it into his mouth.</p><p>Link finished stoking the first fire and moved on to the second.</p><p>It was getting harder to ignore his suspicion.</p><p>Princess Zelda seemed to agree. “Perhaps now would be a good time to ask about the exact circumstances of the time you’re from. Prince Sidon’s age would seem to imply it’s been quite a long time, but you and Link have scarcely aged at all.”</p><p>“I did tell you that I was trapped with the Calamity for some time,” Queen Zelda said, without a hint of apology in her voice. “I expect my magic sustained me during that time. It’s been a hundred years.”</p><p>Sidon nodded when the princess glanced at him to confirm, expression solemn. “Yunobo, Riju, and I believe even Teba all would have grown up in the aftermath of the Calamity. Even I myself only scarcely remember a time before.”</p><p>Teba nodded curtly, not taking his eyes off their surroundings. “I believe both my parents were still young children during its onset. I myself wasn’t born until well after the dust had settled.”</p><p>Urbosa made a noise, drawing their attention, and spared a look over her shoulder to ask, “Then why weren’t the past selves of the champions summoned to aid us? It seems foolish to only have two people familiar with the circumstances we’re trying to avoid.”</p><p>Her grim expression said she wasn’t just being dense.</p><p>“The circumstances of our timeline have already been avoided,” Queen Zelda said grimly, not looking directly at Urbosa. “All of our champions died when their divine beasts were seized by the Calamity. By this point in our own timeline, Link and I were fleeing to Fort Hateno.”</p><p>Princess Zelda reached out to touch the other’s shoulder, gentle and feather-light. “Then I’m glad you came,” she said quietly, with not a little significant look at Urbosa.</p><p>Queen Zelda sighed, relaxing a little. “The technology used to defeat the guardians will likely be of more help than anything else. Robbie developed it from parts taken from ancient machinery, and they’re particularly effective. We’re lucky Link always keeps such a large supply on him.”</p><p><em>Glad to be of service, </em>Link signed dryly.</p><p>“So I suppose we’re to believe that Link is the only one that made it out of the Calamity unscathed?” Revali cracked, turning around for the moment it took to give Amber Link a lingering and dubious look.</p><p>Impa laughed, only the slightest edge of nervousness betraying her worry.</p><p>“That’s Link for you,” she said fondly, swinging an arm around Amber’s shoulders to pull him close and rub her knuckles into his head.</p><p>There was a crack, and Impa yelped loudly. Honey Nut spun around, abandoning the third fire, and in a moment realized what had happened – Impa was cradling one wrist, Link suddenly a full three feet further away from her than he previously had been. Queen Zelda had moved between them, something oddly protective in her posture even as she turned towards her Link, brow furrowed.</p><p>Honey Nut went to Impa before anyone else could, internally wincing at the way her expression was going from pain and indignation to hurt. He hummed at her until she looked at him, and then held out an open bottle of red potion silently.</p><p>She took it with a grimace. “Don’t ever become that touchy,” she muttered, sipping at the bottle. “Jeez, I must’ve done that to you a thousand times. You’ve never minded, have you?” She sighed in relief as the potion started to work. It must have only been a hairline fracture.</p><p>Link rolled his eyes at her and looked over at the other three, more than a little unsettled. Both Zeldas were frowning at a clearly defensive Amber Link.</p><p>Queen Zelda, unsurprisingly, made whatever realization she needed first, expression crumpling into dismay.</p><p>“Oh,” she breathed, and then, “I’m sorry, Link, I didn’t realize- that’s Impa. Do you see how much she looks like Paya? This is Impa when she was our age.” She smiled, awkward and pained. “I did say that you were friends once.”</p><p>Amber’s expression was still guarded, flicking between Impa and Queen Zelda and back to Impa. He loosened up slowly, defensiveness into uncertainty into a faint apologetic air, and he inclined his head towards Impa before finally returning to his Zelda’s side, still tense.</p><p>Honey Nut, on the other hand, had had enough. (He didn’t want to admit it, even to himself, but he was getting scared.)</p><p><em>What happened? </em>he signed, sharply enough to be perilously close to a demand – much closer than he ever would have allowed himself with even his own Zelda before tonight. <em>You never explained why I’m only a few years older. You haven’t explained why I’m hurt but not treatable. And why don’t I recognize Impa?</em></p><p>The others were staring, and he thought it was probably because they’d never seen him <em>scared. </em>But tonight was a night for the unusual.</p><p>Queen Zelda didn’t seem to mind, at any rate, only meeting his eyes with an expression heavy with regret.</p><p>“The Shrine of Resurrection,” she said simply, and those words alone were almost enough to knock Link down, heart racing in his chest.</p><p>He was right. He had been <em>beaten </em>– so thoroughly, so completely that he had not only retreated, but had <em>died, </em>had suffered, that he was still recovering from it after however long it had been for Amber.</p><p>He had <em>lost.</em></p><p>And perhaps it was Link’s own arrogance speaking, but he thought that the others seemed just as stunned.</p><p>“What happened?”</p><p>Mipha was suddenly wide awake, sitting up beside Sidon, worried eyes fixed on the future Zelda like she held all the answers. Something in Sidon’s solemn expression told Link that he might even know why Mipha was so anxious.</p><p>(Goddess, <em>Mipha. </em>Mipha had <em>died, </em>trapped and alone-)</p><p>Queen Zelda looked around, looking surprised and uncomfortable to have everyone’s attention suddenly so thoroughly fixed on her. She recovered quickly, though, straightening under the scrutiny. Even her younger self was looking to her for answers.</p><p>“Without any support from the divine beasts or- or my own sealing power, Link was unable to defeat the Calamity,” Zelda said, quiet but clear, and Amber curled in on himself while Honey Nut stared. “Eventually, he decided to protect me instead, and we fled to Fort Hateno.” She cleared her throat. “The journey took… about four days, traveling on foot. We were pursued the entire way by guardians and silver monsters, and traveled more than once through patches of malice swamp.”</p><p>She glanced at her Link, apologetic, and Link grimaced at her but gestured for her to go on. He looked resigned. He looked tired.</p><p>“Link didn’t sleep,” Queen Zelda continued, after only a beat of hesitation. “He didn’t rest, he barely ate- the pursuit was relentless, you understand. By the time we actually reached Fort Hateno, his injuries had added up to the point where he struggled to walk, and I was constantly surprised he was still alive, let alone conscious.” She shrugged helplessly. “At Fort Hateno, he stepped between a guardian and myself, and he was too exhausted to even lift his shield.”</p><p>Her bitterness coated her voice when she finished.</p><p>“It was at that point that my sealing ability finally chose to manifest itself.” She looked at Honey Nut, softened visibly, and added, “He lost his memory in the Shrine of Resurrection, and has only gained fragments of it back. He knows Impa a hundred years from now, but it hadn’t occurred to me that he may not recognize her as she is today.”</p><p>Impa looked pale. Distantly, Link sympathized.</p><p>Sidon cleared his throat, the first to dare to break the silence, and when Honey Nut looked over, he was giving Amber an oddly comforting beam.</p><p>“I confess that I was not previously aware of the full story,” he said, still more subdued than Link had heard from him so far. “But you continue to amaze me with your strength and fortitude, my friend. It’s truly commendable.”</p><p>Link gave him a wan smile in return and signed simply, <em>You’re a good friend.</em></p><p>Then he got up, popped a cast iron cooking pot out of his Sheikah slate, and stared at it with such apprehension that Honey Nut moved to put it on the fire without thinking, signaling the end of the conversation.</p><p>Honey Nut and Impa got to work cooking for the group, working quietly, while Queen Zelda coaxed the other Link into dozing while they waited. It didn’t seem to take much persuasion, and soon Amber was joining Riju and Yunobo in restless sleep.</p><p>Link still found himself distracted and unsettled even as he worked to cook, and after a while Impa noticed and shifted to face him, expression awkward but determined.</p><p><em>Everyone loses sometime, </em>she signed to him, too kind to draw attention to his distress.</p><p>(Not me, Link wanted to say. Not anymore.)</p><p><em>I’m being childish, </em>Link signed to her instead, frustrated. <em>Everyone else died.</em></p><p><em>You’re really not, </em>Impa returned. <em>Looks like you got pretty well wrecked by what happens. And I apparently survived alone to be a hundred and twenty.</em></p><p>The last part was tacked on as an afterthought, a clear attempt at levity. Accordingly, Link snorted.</p><p><em>Not alone, </em>he countered wryly. <em>You have Robbie for company.</em></p><p>“Oh, goddess,” Impa muttered out loud, and went back to chopping ingredients for meat stew. “I’d rather grow old alone.”</p><p>Queen Zelda roused Amber when the stew was ready, and Amber went to wake Riju and Yunobo, smiling softly at both their grumbling, and then passed out bowls, somehow having enough for everyone.</p><p>It was solidly dark now, the hour growing later and later, so the party was lit only by the flickering fires. Smoke spiraled up into the air as everyone ate, the mood not nearly as grim as one might have expected for all that had happened that day.</p><p>They had a lot of help for all the trials to come, after all.</p><p>Conversation started to stir slowly as the meal wore on, and Link listened to Yunobo enthuse about his rescue to an oddly fascinated Riju.</p><p>“It was <em>so cool!” </em>Yunobo declared earnestly. “It was like Link took a dozen – no, <em>two dozen </em>strength elixirs! You could see the shock waves coming out of his sword, and he was <em>relentless!”</em></p><p>Daruk chuckled. “Ha, that’s Link for you! Ain’t no other Hylian like him. Strength of a Goron, that kid.”</p><p>“So he’s always like that?” Riju asked, eyes large with wonder and curiosity. “I’ve always known Link to be very strong, but not like that. Perhaps all of the-” She gestured vaguely to her front. “Had him rethinking his fighting style a little.”</p><p>Yunobo deflated. “Oh, yeah.” He perked up again easily enough. “You should have seen him, Riju, he was like a force of nature! It was like he never stopped to take a breath!”</p><p>“Isn’t he always?” Riju asked rhetorically, a hint of a smile on her mouth.</p><p>“I did notice that he fought rather more head-on than is usual for him,” Sidon mused. “But perhaps the circumstances simply called for it. These- blights, they were rather an unusual foe, and entirely too powerful to work around.”</p><p>Link noticed that Amber Link was listening in, head tilted with something of a downturn to the corners of his mouth. Princess Zelda was too, fascinated and confused, glancing thoughtfully between Honey Nut and Amber.</p><p>“Lady Urbosa seemed impressed by how prepared Link was for our fight,” Riju contributed helpfully. “He had some electro elixirs for us – Lady Urbosa nearly coughed hers up. What was in those, Link?”</p><p>She glanced over expectantly, and Amber answered, <em>Some thunderwing butterflies and a lynel heart. They were meant for approaching Farosh, but this seemed a better use.</em></p><p>“Our little champion doesn’t employ elixirs very often,” Urbosa explained, eying Amber speculatively. “Especially given how unexpected these battles were, I wasn’t expecting him to have them on hand.”</p><p>“Teba?” Revali prompted, and Link twisted around to see that Teba was looking distinctly puzzled and even a little dubious, while Revali cocked an eyebrow at the other Rito, expectant.</p><p>Teba stirred his stew a little, and then said carefully, “I’ve always known Link to employ elixirs very heavily. To be frank, in fact, I don’t believe I’ve seen him pass up any fraction of an advantage he can find.” He looked questioningly at Honey Nut, one eyebrow high.</p><p><em>I’ve never had much use for them before, </em>Link admitted frankly. <em>They don’t give me much of an edge, considering.</em></p><p>A little embarrassed, he left the rest off, not wanting to say aloud that his overwhelming power combined with his skill always left monsters in the dust with or without the advantage of an elixir or two. It was simply a waste of time and resources.</p><p>Teba hummed thoughtfully, and then looked over when Amber sighed heavily, along with most of the others.</p><p>Looking fed up, Amber Link set aside his bowl of stew and stripped off his shirt with a painful grunt, revealing… well, scars. An array of twisted, painful-looking burn scars that covered the vast majority of his arms and torso, dark and bunched and some of them even looking faintly agitated, probably, Honey Nut thought, sick with the realization, from the day’s labors.</p><p>(Honey Nut was probably, at worst, going to be very sore tomorrow. No wonder Amber had been having so much trouble.)</p><p><em>I hope this answers any questions about the difference between Honey Nut and my fighting styles, </em>Amber signed tartly, and then picked his bowl back up and kept eating.</p><p>Honey Nut couldn’t help but glance over at Mipha, whose face, already drawn with exhaustion, was now pinched with worry as well, looking from Amber to Honey Nut. As Link watched, though, Sidon leaned down (comically far) to murmur something to Mipha, and Mipha sighed and nodded, relaxing perhaps a little and giving her younger brother a small, wan smile.</p><p>“It certainly does,” Urbosa said evenly, inclining her head towards Amber. “I commend your ability to adapt. I doubt it was an easy adjustment to make, particularly with the ground you had to make up.”</p><p>Uncertainty flickered across Amber’s face, but he settled and nodded after only a moment, slow and solemn, and the conversation died again.</p><p>It was hours later, when the moon was high in the sky and most everyone fast asleep on the ground or on bedrolls, that Mipha got up quietly, crossed the camp to sit beside Honey Nut, and hugged him tightly.</p><p>Link hugged her back without hesitation, just as tight. (He’d come so close to <em>losing </em>her today.) It was almost a minute before they let go, and Mipha pushed herself closer so their legs were still pressed together when they needed their hands free.</p><p><em>I’m glad you’re okay, </em>she signed after a while, pinched with stress. Link chuckled, soft and sheepish, and leaned over to kiss her briefly on the cheek.</p><p><em>Same to you, </em>he signed back, glancing at Amber, curled up close enough to Queen Zelda that they could hold on to each other. <em>What did he want to talk to you about?</em></p><p>Mipha’s expression softened, turning pensive. <em>He wanted to warn me that he and Queen Z would be sleeping together. He says it keeps them both from having nightmares. But he wanted me to know that he remembered me, and he still loves and misses me.</em></p><p>Link swallowed. He didn’t want to imagine waking up – hurt, alone, without the strength he’d come to depend on – and knowing that Mipha was <em>gone.</em></p><p><em>Is it vain for me to say that was kind of him? </em>he asked wryly. Mipha was prone to insecurity at the best of times, so he appreciated Amber heading that off before it could turn into anything.</p><p>Mipha laughed, stifling it quickly in one hand, and shook her head.</p><p><em>Would you mind terribly if I stuck close to you while we’re at the citadel? </em>she asked. <em>I… find that I don’t like the idea of letting you out of my sight right now.</em></p><p>Link was relieved to have the excuse. <em>Of course not. You know I’m always happy to have you at my back.</em></p><p><em>And I’m always happy to be where I can look after you, </em>Mipha signed back, and then leaned against him and twisted their hands together, ending the conversation. Link threw his free arm around her shoulders, and kept watch.</p><p>They were very, very lucky things had happened the way they did here.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I just finished up Age of Calamity yesterday and then wrote this in like, eighteen hours.</p><p>I have a lot of feelings about the difference between Link in Age of Calamity and Link in Breath of the Wild, and they seem to be different from everyone else's. I couldn't just let that slide, lmao.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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